FIM Moto2 World Championship Silverstone, Great Britain June 10 Free Practice Two Results (wet conditions, all using Honda engines and Dunlop tires): 1. Randy KRUMMENACHER, Switzerland (KALEX), 2:15.090 2. Marc MARQUEZ, Spain (SUTER), 2:15.207 3. Bradley SMITH, Great Britain (TECH 3), 2:16.741 4. Dominique AEGERTER, Switzerland (SUTER), 2:18.132 5. Stefan BRADL, Germany (KALEX), 2:18.199 6. Pol ESPARGARO, Spain (FTR), 2:18.932 7. Michele PIRRO, Italy (MORIWAKI), 2:19.246 8. Axel PONS, Spain (PONS KALEX), 2:19.248 9. Raffaele DE ROSA, Italy (FTR), 2:19.599 10. Yonny HERNANDEZ, Colombia (FTR), 2:19.974 11. Kenan SOFUOGLU, Turkey (SUTER), 2:19.981 12. Mika KALLIO, Finland (SUTER), 2:19.998 13. Robertino PIETRI, Venezuela (SUTER), 2:20.822 14. Yuki TAKAHASHI, Japan (MORIWAKI), 2:21.301 15. Jules CLUZEL, France (SUTER), 2:21.316 16. Carmelo MORALES, Spain (MORIWAKI), 2:22.240 17. Alex BALDOLINI, Italy (SUTER), 2:22.355 18. Max NEUKIRCHNER, Germany (MZ-RE HONDA), 2:22.379 19. Thomas LUTHI, Switzerland (SUTER), 2:23.047 20. Jordi TORRES, Spain (SUTER), 2:23.101 21. Mashel AL NAIMI, Qatar (MORIWAKI), 2:23.686 22. Xavier SIMEON, Belgium (TECH 3), 2:23.989 23. Scott REDDING, Great Britain (SUTER), 2:24.159 24. Esteve RABAT, Spain (FTR), 2:24.382 25. Anthony WEST, Australia (MZ-RE HONDA), 2:24.485 26. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (PONS KALEX), 2:24.646 27. Claudio CORTI, Italy (SUTER), 2:24.796 28. Alex DE ANGELIS, San Marino (MOTOBI), 2:25.437 29. Simone CORSI, Italy (FTR), 2:25.593 30. Kenny NOYES, USA (FTR), 2:25.748 31. Kev COGHLAN, Great Britain (FTR), 2:25.771 32. Andrea IANNONE, Italy (SUTER), 2:25.807 33. Ratthapark WILAIROT, Thailand (FTR), 2:25.959 34. Javier FORES, Spain (SUTER), 2:26.286 35. Valentin DEBISE, France (FTR), 2:26.486 36. Nasser Hasan AL MALKI, Qatar (MORIWAKI), 2:26.560 37. Mike DI MEGLIO, France (TECH 3), 2:32.394 38. Mattia PASINI, Italy (FTR), no time recorded More, from a press release issued by QMMF Racing Team: Al Naimi rides to 21st in the afternoon- Grand Prix comeback for Al Malki Nasser Hasan Al Malki makes an unexpected comeback to Grand Prix racing in Silverstone this weekend. The 27-year-old QMMF Racing Team rider, who rode his first ever Grand Prix as QMMF’s Wild Card entry at the season-opening race in Qatar, was called in to replace Ricky Cardús. The Spaniard, who was hospitalised and operated with acute appendicitis one week ago at Barcelona, is recovering well and plans to return to race action at the next Grand Prix in Assen in two weeks. Whereas Al Malki needed the first day of practice to come to grips with the fast and difficult 5.9 kilometre track, Al Naimi set a small personal highlight when he rode to a strong 21st place in the afternoon session. Due to the better track conditions and faster lap times in the morning however, he still had to settle for 36th place in the combined classification of morning and afternoon. “Ricky is recovering well from his operation an he is doing well. As a motorcycle professional, he obviously wanted to return much earlier, but the doctors recommended him to give it another ten days and to come back fully fit for the Assen Grand Prix”, said team manager Luis Solano. “Nasser was our Wild Card entry in Qatar, but he didn’t know the track here and it was a difficult start for him, partly also because of the weather conditions. He is still learning the bike and improving. For Mashel, it’s also the first time here at Silverstone because he underwent an arm operation last year and couldn’t compete in the race. As always, we now focus on the best possible performance in the qualifying practice!” Mashel Al Naimi (36th in 2.15,836) “This is the first time for me here at Silverstone. It is a long and fast track, difficult to learn. In first practice, I went out with soft settings and felt too much movement in the bike. There are also a lot of bumps on the track, which didn’t make it any easier. When I went out in the rain in the afternoon, it was difficult again for me, maybe because I crashed at the race in Catalunya. But I still tried to push and after five laps I finally got some feeling for my bike even though the settings still weren’t good. When the track got drier, I went out on slick tyres and moved up to 21st position, which felt great. It is a good base for tomorrow. I hope I can improve more!” Nasser Hasan Al Malki (not yet qualified/ 2.19,901) “After my Wild Card entry at the season-opening Grand Prix in Qatar, I did some Endurance races with the QMMF team. Five days ago, they called and asked me to replace Ricky Cardús which was a very nice surprise. It’s the first time for me in Silverstone, and it is a very fast track, but I like it and I want to make a good result. In the first practice this morning, I just tried to get the feeling for the bike. It was as if I had been on a Moto2 bike for the first time in my life! First I was angry because I didn’t manage to improve, but in the last half hour, I managed to push a bit harder and to get a lap time that wasn’t too bad for the beginning. I am very happy, because my team works very well and they understand what I want. There is of course a lot of work ahead of us, which is why I really hope for dry weather tomorrow!” More, from a press release issued by Marc VDS Racing Team: REDDING RETURNS HOME TO SILVERSTONE IN STYLE Briton Scott Redding made a stunning return to home shores at the Silverstone circuit today, the Marc VDS Racing rider topping the timesheets at the end of an opening day of Moto2 practice dominated by cool and unpredictable conditions. Redding was in imperious form this morning, the 18-year-old dominating the first free practice session to finish an impressive 0.591s clear of Moto2 World Championship leader Stefan Bradl. Working on improving rear grip entering corners with his Suter MMXI machine, the margin of Redding’s advantage was particularly impressive given how close and competitive the Moto2 class usually is. This afternoon’s session started on a rapidly drying track after heavy earlier rain disrupted the 125cc and MotoGP sessions. Some sections were still littered with large damp patches, and Redding opted to use wet Dunlop tyres throughout, grasping the perfect opportunity to improve his confidence and speed in changeable conditions, which has been one of the weak points he’s been determined to improve on during the 2011 Moto2 World Championship. Mika Kallio produced a solid performance today too, the Finnish rider aiming to build on the confidence gained from his eighth place finish in last weekend’s Catalunya race near Barcelona. With forecasts showing more unpredictable weather is likely over the weekend, Kallio ran full wet tyres and slicks on a damp track this afternoon, his Marc VDS Racing crew making sure he is prepared for every eventuality on Sunday. He was 14th fastest in the dry this morning and 12th quickest this afternoon. Scott Redding #45 – 2.09.808 – 27 laps – 1st position “This morning was awesome and I felt great straight from the first lap. I had a lot of confidence with the bike and I was in the zone and just getting quicker and quicker. Even I was surprised though to be nearly 0.6s faster than Bradl, who has been on fire this season. I’m also happy with this afternoon because 90 per cent of the track was dry but we decided to stay out on wets. I’ve struggled a little bit in those patchy conditions before, so it was great to get some experience and work on my riding in those conditions. The British fans have been awesome and hopefully I’ll be able to carry on this form for the race. I’d prefer it to be a full wet or dry race rather than those tricky in between conditions, but I’ll be ready to gas it up no matter what gets thrown at us.” Mika Kallio #36 – 2.11.958 – 29 laps – 14th position “We made good progress with the set-up of the bike in Catalunya last weekend, so this morning we were trying to improve the Suter MMXI package even more with a few ideas. We made solid progress and we were looking to find some more time in the dry this afternoon, but unfortunately the track was still quite wet in parts after the earlier rain. I went out with a dry setting on wet tyres because that is a situation we could find ourselves in on Sunday. I was in second position while everybody was assessing the track and then we went out on slicks while the track was still damp, again just making sure we are best prepared in case we have to race in those conditions on Sunday. I could make up lots of time in the first section where it was dry but I was losing a lot of time in the second section where it was still quite wet. The final times were decided by who wanted to push it to the limit, and I didn’t want to take so many risks at this stage of the weekend.” Pete Benson – Scott Redding Crew Chief “This morning was really good and this afternoon we learnt a lot, even though we ended up much lower down the timesheets. Scott did a fantastic job this morning; such a big advantage is not so easy to establish against this level of competition. Scott loves really fast tracks and today he showed that again. We made a couple of small tweaks to the bike based on what we learned at Barcelona and we improved rear grip on corner entry, though we can still find another step in that area. He’s obviously got a little bit of extra motivation here, with it being his home race with a lot of British support, and I’m sure we’d have seen him in the top five this afternoon if he’d come in and switched to slick tyres. But we could have a wet start to the race and the track might dry quickly, so it was good to get some valuable information in those conditions in case we have to tackle them again on Sunday.” More, from a press release issued by JiR Moto2 Team: GP of Great Britain, practice: De Angelis 8th The famous British weather that has made the United Kingdom famous around the world did not disappoint today on the Silverstone circuit – this weekend’s location for the 6th round of the World Moto2 Championship. The first practice session was graced by the rain and a MotoBI in pretty good shape, ridden by our own Alex De Angelis. Alex spent the first few laps getting familiar with a track that is pretty new for him but then he succeeded in banking a good 2’11.426s lap which gives him provisional 8th place. It was a rather different story in the afternoon, with the track wet from a downpour which came during the 125 class practice, but it got drier and drier after MotoGP practice, but without returning to the optimal conditions seen in the morning. With these tricky conditions on-track, De Angelis and the JiR Team chose to do only a few laps at the end of the 45 minutes, not to take unnecessary risks because there are two crucial sessions tomorrow and also the warm-up before the race. The provisional classification does not change from that of the morning, so tomorrow we all hope that the weather will be friendly to the teams! Alex DeAngelis This morning was positive because I managed to do the eighth-best time so that is not bad. It’s the first time I experience the dry conditions here at Silverstone because last year I had a crash in the first practice session and it was raining, so I think we did a good job to be immediately competitive. Unfortunately the rain has ruined the afternoon session by wetting the track and in these conditions we decided not to run because there was no margin for improving the timing of the morning.